By Rev. Terry Kyllo | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
The retreat of faith into private life is only half the problem.
People have watched some Christians move in the opposite direction—seeking to impose their worldview on others, using law, policy, and cultural pressure to enforce religious norms. In this version of faith, very little is left to conscience. Difference becomes threat. Power replaces persuasion.
So people feel trapped between two bad options:
- Faith that stays private and largely irrelevant
- Faith that seeks to dominate public life
Neither option leads to human flourishing.
This false choice didn’t appear by accident. It took shape during the enlightenment, when Western culture made a fateful bargain:
Religion would be treated as private—about belief, morality and worship.
Public life would belong to reason, science, politics and economics.
Given the position of the Western church as a political power, this was an understandable choice. It was also an overreaction.
But no society actually works this way.
Every society is shaped by values. Every society has a religio—something that “holds it together.”
The real question is not whether we have a public faith, but which one.
Today, our dominant public religion quietly teaches that human beings are primarily producers and consumers, competing in a winner-take-most economy. Even when softened with kindness or charity, this story slowly erodes human dignity. It treats people as means rather than ends.
And history is clear about one thing: societies with extreme inequality do not last.
Most of us know this, even if we struggle to name it. Few would freely choose such a society for their children or grandchildren.
Which raises a deeper question: If this is not the world we want, why do we keep organizing our life together around these values?
Stay tuned for the next column in this series.
FāVS News uses professional journalists and thoughtful commentary to explore faith, values and ethics. Support journalism like this by making a tax-deductible donation. FāVS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Agreed – faith is neither political power or private assertions. And the practices of consuming and hoarding are acts of faith. We’ve become part of a machine that does not mind our ‘faith assertions’ while it feeds on our daily practices. I wonder if those of us who recite creeds might assert something more than belief (whatever that means) in events that don’t excite us to compassionate action.
All governing bodies have the same problem: how do you balance a civil society with free will, freedom of conscience. God has the same problem. Try balancing that with the underlying issue of human nature being selfish, me first.
We can make laws, STOP signs, that state the expected goals, but the sign cannot press the brake for anyone. They must decide (free will) whether to obey or not. God knows that. That is why Paul wrote that “the law cannot save you”. God can only save those that surrender their will to Him and allowing Him to give them a new heart with HIS laws of love written on their heart.
God created the church with one mandate: make disciples. Present to others the advantages of living a life of service to God by serving others, including the ones you do not like. Lift up Christ and He will draw others to Himself. (Lift up government and they will crush free will.) He is the only One that can change the heart, change our carnal selfish nature from selfishness to selflessness by His cross. The cross He asks us to take. The cross that kills. The cross that WE voluntarily crucify our selfish human nature on.
The Amish come closest to that ideal, the closest to God’s plan. Conform to the pattern they proscribe or leave. That is what God offers.
God gives everyone the choice of choosing His way of love, doing to others what God has done to and for you: dying for you, forgiving your sins, loving you even when you rebelled, offering you eternal love, joy and peace OR you can live life on your own terms. You can create your own governments (a million communes tried and failed in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and a few are still left that allow people to leave if they do not like the rules) that all fail because, as free will rebels, government morphs into totalitarian regimes. The world we have is the one carnal selfish humanity created, and it will never change or get better until God returns and takes those that chose Him over those that rejected His ways.
The choice is yours. God does not compel, force or threaten. He only accepts those willing to live a life of love by sacrificing their desires for His. Choose HIm and live. Choose self and die.